Vehicle bodies here are normally each fastened to a so-called skid, which generally comprises two bearing runners. Today's vehicle bodies are already manufactured with holding components which are standardised and matched to the skid technology. These holding components of the vehicle bodies are mostly holding plates on their floor. These holding plates cooperate with appropriately adapted bearing or locking elements on the skids, which are likewise known per se for example in the form of bearing pins and by way of which a vehicle body is fastened to a skid. For other objects, a skid carries along one or more workpiece carriers, for example, which receive the objects.
In order to drive the skid, in known conveyors of the type mentioned at the outset this lies for example with its bearing runners on the supporting members of the continuous drive train.
In the case of vehicle bodies, a skid of this type undergoes the same treatment in the individual treatment stations as the vehicle body fastened to it. If a vehicle body on a skid is guided for example through a drier, the associated skid is also heated each time to then be cooled again with the vehicle body. As a result, in each drying procedure, a considerable amount of energy is used for heating and cooling the respective skid.
In treatment zones in which the skid does not undergo any direct treatment, it still has to be carried along with the vehicle body. The overall mass of the vehicle body and skid to be conveyed is therefore considerably greater than the mass of a vehicle body alone. For example, a vehicle body with a weight of approximately 400 kg is conveyed on a skid which weighs approximately 150 kg. Since relatively large masses have to be moved, the amount of energy used for transporting the vehicle body and skid is greater than for a vehicle body alone.
All in all, in the case of commercially known conveying devices of the type mentioned at the outset which cooperate with skids, the total energy balance in terms of the vehicle bodies to be treated is adversely affected and the total operating costs of the plant are therefore increased.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a device of the type mentioned at the outset which takes these considerations into account. With this, it should however always be possible to convey objects other than vehicle bodies.